Thursday, September 1, 2011

Sure, Miami is the hub and essentially the only place you can get original booty bass records on wax. And for a split-second, we all thought Uncle Luke was going to be elected mayor (he is partly responsible for this video). But Miami is also home to primary strands of dirty south, thug rap, of which you can finds thousands of mixtapes at the Carol City Flea Market. It's a sound that we're accustomed to and hear on a regular just listening to 99Jamz throughout the day.

Not until recently has this flavor of crunk'd-out 140 bpm rap evolved into less of a forum for MCs to spit on, and more of a producer-centered area of club banging. The fact that it has seeped into the UK bass mindframe w/ producers like Girl Unit, Salva and S-X, should be even more indication that tastemakers should be turning their heads over to the 305 for more influence.

That said, Toronto-based Lunice, who's been producing this same thug-conscious sound for the past couple of years, performed a set at London's Notthingham Carnival this past week, w/ Boiler Room (the Ustream UK electronic channel) on deck to document the whole thing.

(Below is the audio. Click on the blog post title to watch the set)

Dude has tons of energy, and his set spiraled between based rap, gangster-heavy UK bass, fringe footwork tunes and King of Diamonds-ready trap rap. I'm telling you-- this is a sound I feel us Miami Dubsteppers should really be exploring. It's not a foreign culture either-- it's rap we grew up either loving or hating (though, you were probably lying about hating it).

Lunice puts these familiar rap signifiers and connects it with the UK culture we're accustomed to, mixing Gucci Mane with Girl Unit into a synonymous category to a point where you don't even know whose song you're listening to anymore.

I've seen DJs connect the dots, like Juan B and Gooddroid. Let's all connect these dots and highlight some of the great stuff Miami has to offer by not dismissing the mainstream rap community that's built within the South, but highlighting/celebrating it.